HBO, Netflix Off to Strong Emmy Starts

The primetime Emmy Awards ceremony is this Sunday, but this past weekend’s Creative Emmy Awards gave us a sneak peek into which shows and networks could be the big winners once all the Emmy envelopes are opened.

Not surprisingly, HBO led the pack with 19 Creative Emmy wins during ceremonies held this past Saturday and Sunday night, with Netflix’s 16 wins and NBC nine wins following close behind. HBO (111 nominations), Netflix (91) and NBC (64) were also the top three Emmy-nominated networks.

The top three Emmy-nominated shows also garnered the most creative Emmy wins. NBC’s venerable Saturday Night Live and HBO’s Westworld, which drew an industry-high 22 Emmy nominations --as well as Stranger Things, which drew a second-best 18 nominations –- each took home five Creative Emmy statuettes over the weekend.

Also among the big Creative Emmy award winners over the weekend were Adult Swim’s animated series Samurai Jack, Netflix’s Ava DuVernay-produced documentary 13thand HBO’s mini-series The Night Of, each with four Creative Emmy Award wins.

Of course, anything can and will most likely happen during CBS' primetime Emmys telecast Sunday, and it‘ll be interesting to see whether the frontrunners can retain their favored status and walk away with the lion’s share of primetime Emmy awards, or whether an underdog can pull off a major upset.